Director, Office of Regulations and Interpretations

1210-AC33 202504 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 1210 Employee Benefits Security Administration EBSA 1200 Department of Labor DOL Selection of Annuity Providers – Safe Harbor for Individual Account Plans

This direct final rule removes 29 CFR 2550.404a-4 from the Code of Federal Regulations. This regulatory fiduciary safe harbor for the selection of annuity providers for the purpose of benefit distributions from individual account retirement plans covered by title I of the Employee Retirement Income Act of 1974 (ERISA) became unnecessary in 2019 when Congress amended ERISA to add a more streamlined fiduciary safe harbor covering the same activity. As a result, the regulatory safe harbor offers an unnecessary and inefficient alternative and this rule eliminates waste of resources associated with analyzing both alternatives. This direct final rule is being taken pursuant to Executive Order 14192, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.

]]> Substantive, Nonsignificant First Time Published in The Unified Agenda Final Rule Stage No No Deregulatory 29CFR 2550.404a-4 ERISA section 404 (29 USC 1104) No Direct Final Rule 07/01/2025 90 FR 28007 Comment Period End 07/31/2025 Direct Final Rule Effective 09/02/2025 No None No No No Jeffrey Turner J. Director, Office of Regulations and Interpretations 1210 Employee Benefits Security Administration EBSA 202 693-8500 turner.jeffery@dol.gov N 5669, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, FP Building, Room N-5655, Washington DC 20210